We're getting married!

Here is the honest story of our union: there's an online dating app called Tinder. The way it works is the app shows you individuals in your area and gives a brief bio of who the person is and also shows pictures of that individual. If you like them, you swipe right, and if they're not giving the vibes, well they get a left swipe. Well, in May of 2020 (yikes), Josh and Michaela were playing the Tinder swipe game, and would you look at that, we both swiped RIGHT! So then we began messaging, and Josh asked Mic if she wanted to facetime to better get to know one another. Michaela was hesitant because she wasn’t necessarily looking for a relationship at the time, not that she was against it but just wasn’t intently looking either, meanwhile everyone was living the fresh covid lockdown life. Ultimately, however, she agreed to facetime for if nothing else she would get practice flirting, which she desperately needed because she was oblivious when it came to talking to boys. The facetime call lasted 2 hours where they shared great and lively conversation, even despite Mic’s awkwardness. They had a few other facetime calls before Josh asked Michaela to come meet her in person at his parent’s house in Edwardsburg, MI (2 hours away from Mic's house in Rockford, MI). To this request, Mic was, again, hesitant. This was covid times, but she was genuinely interested in getting to know Josh more. So she made the drive, got a pep talk from a friend on the way there, and arrived at the Backhus household. She pulled into the driveway, unsure if she was at the right address given there was a man, roughly the same age as her parents, who was definitely not Josh, in the driveway. She had been expecting Josh to be outside waiting for her, but she double checked the address, and sure enough it was right, so she sucked it up, got out of the car, and met her future father in law (unbeknownst to her at this point, of course) BEFORE she met her future forever partner (again, completely unbeknownst because this was simply a tinder meetup at this point). After Michaela and Greg politely greeted one another and introduced themselves, Mic asked if Josh was here to which Greg replied with a hearty yes and walked me inside. Then, Mic finally met Josh in person for the first time. First impressions went well for both parties and the two had a great time getting to know one another better, and a bonus: Mic survived kayaking on the lake despite how out of shape she was. Over the next couple months, the two shared more visits with one another and checked off their official first date at Papa Vino's in Mishawaka, IN (which was absolutely delicious, and Josh was a perfect gentleman and got the check;). After some time, Mic had officially recognized that she caught feelings, and there were two courses of action: 1) share these feelings with Josh, gather information if the feelings are mutual, and continue dating if so; or, 2) push the feelings down and out and continue dating for fun just for the summer. Well, Mic decided she would put it in his hands. Mic sat Josh down on a Sunday night in June and shared that she had feelings and she could continue going down the dating path, but if he did not share these feelings or was not looking for a significant other, she would go about her way without any harm. Josh was passionate about this and asked discuss this in person. Two days later, June 23rd, 2020, Michaela finally got a boyfriend!!! They mutually decided they liked each other and wanted to keep dating. This was going to be a difficult feat, however, since Mic was in undergrad and still had PA school to go (not looking good for the survival of this relationship) while Josh just started a new job for General Motors in the Detroit metropolitan area. But somehow, by the grace of God, the two made it through long distance and PA school! Josh surprised Mic by getting down on one knee the first second he could on Sept 8, 2023, and to no surprise, Mic said yes!!